Living Well - We Are!

I've been reading this book I got from the library the other day, Children of the Great Depression, by Russell Freedman. It is heartbreaking and inspiring at the same time, and some of the pictures are really heart-rending. I don't think those of us who did not live through the Great Depression here in the United States have any idea of what our parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents actually survived. True, not everyone suffered, but a very great number surely did.

One thing the author said really touched me, "Years later, people who had grown up during the worst times of the Great Depression looked back with a certain pride. They had missed out on some of the carefree years that are the special gift of youth, but they had gained, they felt, a sense of heightened self-confidence and an understanding of the needs of others. Hard times had propelled them into the adult world much sooner than they might have wished, yet they had discovered within themselves strengths and skills that would last throughout their lives."

None of us likes being tested and tried, but it's usually that time of testing and trial when we become who we are. I don't imagine the butterfly would choose to struggle out of that chrysalis if he had a choice, but it is the struggle that makes his wings strong.

I am so thankful the Lord does not allow any more than we are able to bear, and that He always makes a way of escape! Don't give up. We're just getting stronger.

~Elaine~